Thursday's Sports In Brief

Bolt completed an unprecedented third consecutive sweep of the 100- and 200-meter sprints, an accomplishment that further elevated his status as the most decorated male sprinter in Olympic history. He won the 200-meter race with a time of 19.78 seconds to defeat Andre de Grasse of Canada. He already claimed gold in the 100 in Rio.

For all of the Olympic fanfare surrounding Bolt's win, Lochte and three of his American teammates attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. Lochte has been in the news all week over his ever-shifting claim that he and his teammates were robbed in a taxi at gunpoint by men carrying a badge during a night of partying Sunday. Police now say the story was made up, and that the intoxicated athletes vandalized a gas station bathroom and were questioned by guards about the incident before they paid about $50 for the damage and left.

The 20-year-old wrapped up a surprising day of upsets at the Rio Games by defeating Russia's Alexey Denisenko in a 68-kilogram division final, during which Abughaush landed several jumping head shots that elicited gasps from the audience. Abughaush beat Denisenko 10-6.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Dalilah Muhammad of the United States went out hard and held on strong to win the women's 400-meter hurdles gold medal in 53.13 seconds.

European champion Sara Slott Peterson of Denmark took silver in 53.55 and the United States picked up another bronze medal with Ashley Spencer storming home to finish third in personal-best 53.72.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Ashton Eaton defended his Olympic decathlon title, equaling the games record with a surge on the last lap of the 1,500 meters - the last event in the two-day competition.

The 28-year-old American finished with 8,893 points to match the Olympic mark set by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in 2004.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Ryan Crouser won the shot put gold medal with an Olympic record 22.52 meters, leading world champion Joe Kovacs in a 1-2 finish for the United States.

The 23-year-old Crouser recorded the three best throws of his career, starting with 22.22 on his second attempt to take an early lead and improving it to 22.26 before his biggest shot of the night on his fifth attempt.

Kovacs, who had the season-leading mark heading into the final, took silver at 21.78.

NFL

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison is willing to meet with the NFL to discuss an alleged link to performance-enhancing drugs - but only five days after a deadline the league has imposed while threatening him and three other players with indefinite suspensions.

NFL Players Association attorney Heather McPhee sent a letter to the NFL, accusing it of trying to ''bully and publicly shame'' Harrison without offering evidence beyond a brief mention in television interview last year that was recanted by the accuser.

Green Bay's Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers, and free-agent Mike Neal also were threatened with suspensions. It was not immediately known if a similar meeting was being proposed by the union.

CLEVELAND (AP) - Robert Griffin III gave the Cleveland Browns some hope with a strong home debut.

Griffin threw two touchdown passes in the first half in the Browns' 24-13 exhibition loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Griffin found wide receiver Terrelle Pryor streaking down the right sideline on Cleveland's second drive of the game for a 50-yard scoring strike. Griffin connected with tight end Gary Barnridge for a 22-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

Griffin signed with the Browns after being released by Washington. He was 6 of 8 for 96 yards in four series, and ran for 36 yards on three carries - including a 22-yarder.

BASEBALL

HOUSTON (AP) - Limiting pitching changes, restricting defensive shifts, altering the strike zone and installing pitch clocks are among the ideas Major League Baseball may consider as it undertakes a multiyear review of the game that could include the sport's most radical changes in decades.

Baseball owners were given a lengthy presentation during their quarterly meeting of how the sport has changed in the past 40 to 50 years.

If implemented, some of the changes could be the most revolutionary since the AL adopted the designated hitter in 1973 or perhaps even since the number of balls for a walk was reduced from five to four in 1889.

GOLF

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Rested after the Rio Olympics, Rafa Cabrera Bello shot a 7-under 63 on in the Wyndham Championship for a share of the first-round lead with Kevin Na.

Na had seven birdies in his bogey-free round in the PGA Tour's final regular-season event. The American tied for eighth last week in the John Deere Classic.

Jim Furyk had a 66 in his first round since shooting the first 58 in PGA Tour history two weeks ago in the final round of the Travelers Championship. Patrick Reed also had a 66.

TENNIS

MASON, Ohio (AP) - Rafael Nadal showed the effects of his long layoff from a wrist injury, losing to Croatia's Borna Coric 6-1, 6-3 at the Western & Southern Open.

The 30-year-old Spaniard was sluggish and well off the mark on his shots and had a trainer visit between games to check his shoulder and elbow, which were feeling the effects of a lot of tennis at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and two days in Cincinnati's heat and humidity.

The 19-year-old Coric reached the quarterfinals of a Masters tournament for the first time and ended his streak of 10 straight losses against top-10 opponents.

In the women's bracket, Karolina Pliskova became the first woman to reach the quarterfinals, defeating Misaki Doi 7-5, 6-3. Second-seeded Angelique Kerber moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova.